Drug-addled Kalgoorlie teen who stole two cars with young children inside admits it was ‘messed up’

A Kalgoorlie-Boulder teen who stole two cars with children inside expressed concern for the youngsters when he was arrested — worried they may have been snatched or suffered heatstroke, a court has been told. The 15-year-old’s rampage began about 3.40pm on January 22 when he jumped into a Kia Sorrento that had been left running outside a home on Forrest Street to keep the air conditioning on in 43C heat. Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer Alana Woldan told Perth Children’s Court on Thursday it was a “spur of the moment” decision, driven by fear police would arrive after his cousin got into trouble at the nearby Broken Hill Hotel. He’d been driving for a minute or two when he looked at the backseat and saw a 10-month-old and one-year-old who had been left sleeping peacefully after a shopping trip, she said. The drug-addled teen “stopped immediately”, Ms Woldan said, then left them on a hot driveway before taking off again. “He felt very bad and was thinking to himself ‘what am I doing? What have I done?’” she said. The baby was found lying flat on the blistering pavement and screaming, with the toddler standing next to him, 16 minutes later. The teen then crashed into the Brooks Hire fence on Great Eastern Highway and was chased by witnesses as he fled through various businesses. At 4pm, he stole another car that had been left running with the air-conditioner on outside a recycling depot. The owner of the Kia Sportage, a mother who had been dropping off containers, shouted out at him to stop, saying her nine-year-old son was inside and desperately tried to open the door. But the teen sped off, dragging her along the ground for 50m to 80m then running over her arm, inflicting a deep laceration. The boy claimed he didn’t hear her shout out and only realised the child was in the vehicle as he accelerated away. But the court’s acting president Mara Barone said the victim had been a front seat passenger, labelling it “tragically unlucky” that the offender had stolen two occupied cars within 20 minutes. He claims he slowed down before the nine-year-old jumped out of the still-moving vehicle in bushland off Anzac Drive. When the teen was arrested the next day at home, he asked about the baby and toddler — worried they might have suffered heat stroke or been snatched, Ms Woldan said. He then fretted about the other child, the lawyer said, quoting him as remarking: “What I did was pretty messed up”. She said the boy was genuinely remorseful and had come from a household where “drug use, violence and crime are a part of life”, first injecting methamphetamine at age 10. Judge Barone said the nine-year-old suffered back, leg and arm injuries consistent with a “tumble” and must have been so terrified, jumping from a moving car seemed safer than staying. The submissions came after the teen pleaded guilty to 10 charges including deprivation of liberty and aggravated robbery causing bodily harm. Judge Barone ordered a psychological report ahead of sentencing on May 15 and returned the teen to the notorious Unit 18.